Different Paths

by Judy Clemens

  Now Randy looked up, but at Zach, not me.

  Zach brightened. At least as much as a cool teen-ager will allow himself. “I’d forgotten about that. Thanks. Come on, Randy.”

  I watched them go, then called after them. “Zach! Know where Lucy is?”

  He shook his head, then stopped. “I think she might be in the house.”

  The house?

  I limped up the sidewalk, moving faster than I’d been able to since stupid Wendy, and stopped inside the door of the house. It smelled great.

  “Luce?”

  “In the kitchen!”

  I went in and stood, taking in the smell, watching Lucy stirring something. “What are you making?”

  “Lunch. Lenny and Tess are going to come join us.” She looked up from the stove. “You didn’t make plans, did you?”

  “Huh-uh.” I walked over and took a peek into the pan. “Ribs?”

  “Just browning them. I’ll put them in the oven and cook them for another hour or so before lunch.”

  “Wow.”

  She went back to stirring. “So, did you need something?”

  “What? Oh, yeah. Do you know exactly when the Hershbergers moved in?”

  She clicked her tongue while she thought. “A week ago. At least, that’s when Lenny went over to help unload the truck.”

  I must’ve looked surprised, because she said, “Ma called him.”

  Ah.

  She was still looking at me. “Why?”

  “Just wondered. Thanks.”

  “But—”

  “Can’t wait for lunch!”

  Back in the office, I relayed the information to Nick. “So they came only a day before Carla was attacked. Doesn’t seem like enough time to get anybody so worked up they’d go after a completely different person. So what does that mean?”

  He shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  “I remember Katherine saying their family—or at least she and Alan—went to church. She didn’t preach, because she wasn’t actually starting work until Monday, but they decided to go, anyway. So people would’ve seen her.”

  I paced behind Nick, and he craned his neck to see me. “There’s no sense to any of this.”

  “Nope. None.”

  My stomach growled, and Nick grinned.

  “Can’t blame me,” I said. “You should smell the kitchen.”

  “Lunch ready?”

  “No, she said at least another hour.”

  “So what should we do?”

  I stopped pacing. “Talk to the one person we haven’t yet.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “Babs.”

  “Babs?”

  “The lady at Club Atlas.”

  “Oh. Sure.”

  I leaned over and closed his laptop. “So let’s go, before I walk back into the kitchen and demand lunch now.”

  He laughed. “Someone’s feeling better.”

  “Yeah.” I pulled him up from his chair and landed a kiss on his mouth. “So you’d better watch out.”

  He put his arms around me and squeezed. “I don’t know, I’m feeling pretty good myself.”

  I put my arms around his neck and returned his hug.

  A throat cleared. “Uh, Stella?” Zach stood in the doorway, averting his eyes.

  I leaned back from Nick, but didn’t let go. “Yeah?”

  “We found these.” He held up a piece of an old barn door, and Randy, standing behind him, had some wooden shingles.

  “Great. They’re all yours.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure.”

  “Thanks.”

  I looked at Randy, expecting some thanks from him, but he turned and disappeared from the doorway. I frowned. He might be disenchanted with women—at least the teen-age variety—but this woman was going to have to teach him some manners soon if he didn’t shape up.

  “So shall we?” Nick said, letting me go.

  I shook off my irritation with Randy and went outside with Nick.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Club Atlas was busy when we arrived. We waited, hanging back, while the lady—Babs, I figured—dealt with some walk-ins. Two big-haired ladies with brightly-colored Spandex outfits and clean, white tennies. I wondered if Missy, Abe’s fiancée, belonged to a club. I had to think she did.

  When the wonder twins went on their way toward the treadmills Babs welcomed us with a smile. Her clothes, while fashionable, were more practical. Black warm-up pants, with a red Club Atlas polo shirt. Couldn’t see the shoes, but I’d bet they were high quality. Her arms were toned, her biceps filling out the shirt’s short sleeves, and her face glowed with health. I made a mental note never to get her mad at me.

  “Can I help you?” Her expression said she didn’t think we were there for a work-out, but she wasn’t discounting it altogether. “Physical therapy, perhaps?”

  I was wondering how she could possibly know about Nick’s illness when I realized they were both looking at me.

  “Oh, my foot? Just broken. It’ll be fine.”

  Amusement sparked in her eyes. “All right. Looking at a membership?”

  I glanced at Nick, but he was obviously waiting for me. What the hell was I supposed to say? That she didn’t know me from Eve but I wanted to know about yesterday morning?

  “I know you don’t know me from Eve, but I was wondering if you would tell us about yesterday morning.”

  Her eyebrows rose, and she looked sideways, as if to make sure the heavy lifters were close by.

  “We’re friends of Carla Beaumont,” I added.

  Her face cleared. “Carla? Oh, poor thing. She’s had a bad week.”

  “Yeah.”

  “At least she has that nice man to take care of her.”

  I took a moment to swallow some bile and Nick’s elbow gently poked my back.

  “Uh, that’s right,” I said. “You know Bryan?”

  “Sure. He comes in here a lot.”

  “Really? But he’s a stick.”

  She laughed. “Not everybody’s a power lifter. He runs. And runs and runs and runs.”

  Huh.

  “Anyway, we’re trying to help out Carla. She can’t think of who might’ve attacked her, and we were thinking there might be a connection with what happened to you.”

  Her nose wrinkled. “I can’t see how.”

  So I explained.

  She took her time considering it, and her expression turned more anxious once it all clicked. “I guess it makes sense.”

  “So, is there anything you can tell us? He didn’t leave you any…sign, or anything, did he?”

  “Sign?”

  “Like something saying you shouldn’t be here because you’re a woman.”

  She shook her head. “No. He didn’t leave anything.”

  “Did he say anything?”

  “Nope. I saw him—”

  “Where?”

  She looked at me. “Come on.” She came out from behind the desk and walked us out the front door. “See that Miata? That’s mine. I always park there, under the light, since it’s dark when I come in. He was standing over there.” She pointed to the side of the building. “You can’t tell now, but there’s a shadow at that corner, cast by the security light. The only reason I noticed him was because he moved.” She shivered.

  “So what did you do?”

  “Grabbed my car keys so they stuck out between my fingers and said, ‘Hello.’”

  “He didn’t answer?”

  “Didn’t have time. Just then two cars pulled in, and it was a few of my regular guys. Their headlights caught him, and he took off. A couple of them tried to run him down, but they’re lifters, not runners.” She smiled. “Now if Bryan would’ve been here…”

  Yeah, whatever. “Did you see what he looked like?”

  “Just a generic shape. A big one. He wasn’t in the light, except for that short time in the headlights, and
all I noticed was him putting his arms over his face. And light hair, I think.”

  An image of David, Katherine’s brother-in-law, flashed through my mind. But that was hardly fair. There were lots of big guys around a gym, and a good percentage of them would have light hair.

  “Clothes?”

  She studied me. “You really need to know all this?”

  I shrugged.

  “Athletic clothes. Warm-ups, shoes. A ball cap. Can’t tell you anything specific.”

  A ball cap. Carla’s attacker had a ball cap.

  “The lifters had no idea who it was?”

  “Nope.”

  I looked at Nick, wondering if he had anything else to ask. He didn’t.

  “Well, thanks,” I said.

  “Sure. If you think of anything else, give me a call. I’d love to find out who it was so I wouldn’t have to worry in the mornings.”

  “You’re not coming alone anymore, are you?”

  “Nope. I worked it out with the guys, and they arranged their schedules so one of them always shows up at the same time.”

  “Nice.”

  “Yeah. They are.”

  She was headed back toward the door when I remembered. “Carla says she got a free pass from a new client. You hand those out a lot?”

  “Actually, we do. To everybody who comes in looking, folks new to town, those deciding if they want to switch gyms. You two want some?”

  I was just saying no when Nick said yes. Babs jogged inside and came back with two passes. One for each of us. Oh, joy.

  “Great,” Nick said, after she’d gone back inside. “Now we can come work out together.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Fantastic.”

  Nick grinned and put both passes in his wallet.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Lenny and Tess were at the farm when we got home. Tess came running out to greet us, Queenie on her heels, and Nick picked her up and swung her around while she squealed.

  When he set her down I ruffled her hair. “Hey, Pumpkin.”

  “Why aren’t you using your crutches? Is your foot all better?”

  “Well, it feels better.”

  “Mom said you were kinda crabby when it hurt.”

  Nick turned a laugh into a cough.

  I took a breath through my nose, then said, “I think we all get kinda crabby when we hurt, don’t you?”

  “Oh, sure. You should’ve seen Mom when she had the stomach flu last winter. I didn’t want to even talk to her.” She leaned closer. “But that was also ‘cause she smelled bad.”

  Now Nick did laugh, and I felt a whole lot better.

  “Come in for lunch, guys!” Lucy was framed by the kitchen window as she yelled out at us.

  “We’d better not tell your mom we were talking about this, okay, Tess?”

  She looked surprised, but agreed. “Okay.”

  The table was set for five.

  “Zach’s not eating with us?” I asked.

  Lucy set the steaming plate of ribs on the table. “The boys went back to Randy’s place. I guess he has some paint they were going to use for their signs.”

  “In Randy’s car?”

  “Why? What’s wrong with his car?”

  “Nothing.” That I knew of. “It’s just that Zach’s parents don’t want Zach riding with Randy.”

  She filled my glass with milk. “Didn’t know that.”

  “How come?” Tess asked, already with a milk mustache.

  Lucy wiped it off with her thumb. “Probably because Randy’s a brand new driver.”

  “Yup,” I said. “And a boy, at that.”

  “Hey, now,” Nick said.

  “You know what I mean.”

  The floor shook and Lenny appeared from the living room. “Hey, all. Smells great, hon.”

  She sat, and we sang the blessing—“God is Great” set to “Rock around the Clock,” accompanied by snapping fingers. I spared everyone’s ears and snapped while everyone else sang.

  “So, Lenny, Lucy tells me you helped the Hershbergers move in last Saturday.”

  He took a piece of fresh bread and smeared a slab of low-fat margarine on it. I guessed Lucy was trying to reduce that gut of his. “Sure did. Ma called the night before, trying to round up movers. I was glad to help out.”

  “Did many people show up?”

  “Lots, actually. A whole group from their church, including the MYF, and her brother-in-law. Katherine and her sister mostly told us where to put stuff.”

  I took a bite of ribs and spent a moment savoring the rich taste. “Awesome, Luce.”

  She grinned. “Thanks.”

  I swallowed and took a drink of milk. “What about the church? Did you take stuff over there, too?”

  “Yup. They’d packed it all so her work things were in the front of the truck. We took out their personal things and moved on to the church. There wasn’t all that much. Books and artwork and stuff.”

  Stuff that had all been ruined.

  “Did their son help? Trevor?”

  “High school age, right? I guess you could say he helped, but mostly he just hung around and watched us work. The one time he did try to help carry a big dresser he stepped on their dog.”

  I winced. “Hurt it?”

  “They were afraid he broke its ribs. Ma had ’em call Carla, and she came out to look at it.”

  I froze. “Carla was there?”

  “Yeah. She was on-call that weekend and figured with them moving and all it was easier for her to drive out instead of making them go to the office.”

  And she had a whole supply of vet stuff right on her own truck. At least until the next day.

  They were all looking at me, Nick with more understanding then the others.

  “What?” Lucy said. “You think it had something to do with her…” She glanced at Tess. “With her truck?”

  “I don’t know.” I looked at my plate and considered how cold it would get if I got up to make a phone call. I decided it didn’t matter. I crossed the room and dialed Carla’s number. This time neither she nor Bryan answered. I left a message for her to call me—saying I meant it this time—and sat back down.

  Somehow the food wasn’t quite as appetizing as before.

  I had finally found a connection.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Detective Willard was in court for the day, and Gladys wasn’t sure she’d see him again before tomorrow. She promised to leave a message on his cell phone to call me as soon as he could.

  I didn’t know what else I could do, until I thought of one more connection between Carla and the Hershbergers. Well, not a connection, exactly, but a way someone would’ve known about them both.

  “Nick?”

  He blinked up at me from the couch, where he had just lain down to take an after-lunch nap. I studied him, hoping not to see the bloodshot eyes he got when he was feeling really sick. I was glad to see what would pass as normal tiredness.

  I sat on the arm of the sofa. “What kind of information do you think I could get on Bryan at his old schools?”

  He squinted. “What do you mean?”

  “Like if I went to the office, would they tell me anything?”

  He scrunched a throw pillow against his chest, resting his arms on it. “Maybe the year he graduated, but nothing interesting, I’m sure. What are you trying to find?”

  I swiveled to put my feet on the couch, and rested my elbows on my knees. “I don’t know. Anything that would give me a clue to his background.”

  Nick sighed. “Why are you having such a hard time trusting Carla on this?”

  “Because she just met him. She’s known him less than a month and he’s sleeping over at her house. I don’t like it. I want to find out more about him. And what if…”

  He waited.

  “What if he’s the one doing all this stuff?”

  He blinked. “Now you’ve lost me. Why would he t
orment women? And kill a doctor that’s not even his?”

  “Do we know that for sure? That she wasn’t his doctor?”

  “Stella…”

  “I don’t know why he’d do it. But that’s what I’m saying. He sees Carla every day. Every night, too, while he’s staying at her place. He could easily know about the Hershbergers through her, since she went on a house call there.”

  “And the church?”

  I lifted my shoulders, and dropped them heavily. “There could be a connection.”

  “Sure. There could be.” He took a deep breath and sat up. “Okay, I’ll go with you.”

  “No. Stay here.”

  “But—”

  “You need to sleep. And I don’t want to leave Lucy here, alone with Tess.”

  “But if I’m asleep—”

  “Your truck is still out there. It looks like more people are here.”

  “If you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure.” I got down and hobbled over to get my keys. “I shouldn’t be too long.”

  “Be careful. Here.” He held out his cell phone. “Take this, just in case.”

  “In case what? Miranda calls and wants to have a nice, sisterly chat?”

  He laughed and pressed it into my hand. “Just you wait. Some day you’ll be surprised. You might actually end up liking each other.”

  “Yeah. Sure. Like that’s gonna happen.”

  I thought maybe I should kiss him good-bye, but he was already lying down again, and his eyes were closed. I shut the door quietly on the way out.

  After telling Lucy where I was going, I made my way to North Penn High School. The building was huge, and it took me a few minutes to find a parking place and trek to the office.

  “Can I help you?” The secretary gave what was probably supposed to be a smile, but came through as something else. Poor woman looked harassed.

  “I’m doing some research and was wondering if someone might talk with me about a student who graduated here some years ago.”

  “Oh, like a historical paper?”

  Yeah, right. “Something like that.”

  She glanced around the office, but no one else was listening to our conversation who could jump in. “Who are you researching?”